May 17, 2017

In my early days as a motorsports journalist, I worked as a freelance Editor-at-Large for National Kart News, which was the leading karting magazine at the time. One of the annual editorial components that my publisher always requested was a ‘Safety Guide’, so we put together an issue each year that highlighted the helmets, suits, […]

Jan 16, 2017

Now that we’re halfway through January, it’s really starting to feel like the new season is up and running.  The final weeks of 2016 felt like a whirlwind, as we came off a month of preparations that led into our trackside effort for last November’s SKUSA SuperNationals.  It seems like I just left Las Vegas, […]

Jan 03, 2017

For all the battling that went on this year in karting, both on-track and off-track, between drivers and between organizations, there’s one thing that is for certain.  2016 is done and gone, and everything that happened throughout the year it is now history.  As we roll into the first week of January, I suggest that […]

Dec 14, 2016

It’s been a long year, as I’m sure most of you will agree, and I’m finally back in the office after my last travel trip of the year.  I wrapped the season by attending the Performance Racing Industry Show in Indianapolis, working with the Mazda Road to Indy crew and hosting a few driver announcements […]

Jun 21, 2016

As is so often the case, I draw many ‘Morning Coffee’ topics from the daily discussions I have with people in the sport.  More often than not, it’s either my conversation partner or myself who eventually blurts out…“that should be a column”.  We discuss the positives and negatives of the current state of karting or […]

Jun 10, 2016

Amidst all the tension and stress that comes with any major national karting event these days, there are also numerous stories throughout the paddock that remind us all of the passion that resides outside the track boundaries. A case in point is Franklin Motorsports’ Jamie Sieracki, the lifelong kart racer and industry member who during […]

May 06, 2016

The sport of karting has evolved a great deal through its 60 years of existence, but the overall approach to competition may have changed the most over the last five years alone, especially at the national level.  This unique segment of our world is now characterized by pro-level transport truck haulers and toterhomes, unlimited testing, […]

Apr 29, 2016

As I sit at the desk in my hotel room, just before the start of official practice for the seventh running of the Superkarts! USA SpringNationals, I can’t help but think about the fact that national-level karting is on the verge of being able to finally move to the next level.  During my 20 years […]

Jan 08, 2016

It had been a handful of years since I’d made the trek to Daytona for WKA Kartweek, jumping onto a plane bound for Florida while still digesting my second helping of Christmas dinner. After attending a string of the events in the late 2000s, I succumbed to the pressure of logging in some family holiday […]

Aug 07, 2015

In the many discussions that I’ve had with racers and members of the karting industry in recent years, I often hear the statement that ‘karting is broken’ or that ‘it’s all upside down’. Your personal view likely depends on where you find yourself within the different levels of karting, but from someone who regularly connects […]

Jul 15, 2015

If you’ve been around the sport of karting for an extended period of time, you’ve had the opportunity to watch the evolution of race weekend scheduling. We’ve went from the week-long summer karting festivals that were the old-school, well-attended IKF Grand Nationals to tight two-day events to extended three-day race weekends with Friday practice and […]

Nov 18, 2014

As we prepare to tackle our most aggressive race coverage program ever, I find myself reminiscing back to the first few SKUSA SuperNationals. During the initial editions of this great race, my focus was on handling the PA duties, taking mental notes for my Shifter Kart Illustrated race reports and providing assistance and input to […]

Oct 31, 2014

I’m sure that many of our fellow EKN gearheads watched with obvious shock and sadness the extremely unfortunate accident at the Japanese Grand Prix in which F1 driver Jules Bianchi went off-track navigating the course during a torrential rainstorm that had earlier caused Adrian Sutil to leave the racing surface and make contact with the […]

Aug 01, 2014

I’m a big fan of Thursdays.  For more than half the year, it’s the day that I head back to the airport for the next event, and I’m always charged up to drop the hammer and get back at it.  On this particular Thursday, I’m even more energetic knowing that I’m on my way to […]

Jun 13, 2014

After spending a majority of my weekends on the road over the past couple months, it was incredible to finally breath a little at the end of May, staying home for a few days to focus on getting caught up on the business side of EKN.  I knew that I had a little gap in […]

Jun 04, 2014

Back in mid-May, we published an interview with Aaron Stanford, the president of the Puget Sound Road Racing Association in which we discussed their upcoming event at The Ridge, the new facility located just west of Seattle.  Road racing has been struggling in the Pacific Northwest for the last few years, which is disappointing, considering […]

Feb 07, 2014

As we roll our way into the new year, I can’t help but look back at my last two decades as a journalist in this sport.  I got my start in motorsports media in the winter of 1992-93 when I answered a classified ad that was run in Performance Racing News, Canada’s only racing publication […]

Jan 24, 2014

It’s been over two months since the EKN squad fired up the mixing board to produce a Trackside Live broadcast, and that particular effort was one of the toughest we’ve ever had to endure.  We streamed our live audio from the Champion Racing/Intrepid North America Tower for three days in Las Vegas during the 17th […]

Jan 17, 2014

Have you ever been part of something at its genesis, something that you just knew was going to make a major impact in its community? Well, I had that feeling late last week when I was asked to emcee the press launch of the upcoming Modesto Grand Prix, which will serve as this year’s Superkarts! […]

Dec 13, 2013

In most professional sports, like baseball, football, basketball and major league motor racing, you’ll hear the term ‘off-season’.  For the most part, this extended period of non-competition provides an opportunity to take a little breather, to reset expectations, improve a program with key acquisitions and eventually begin preparation and practice for the new year.  In […]